It's been said that Henry Kissinger's only major accomplishment was to be the
only Ph.D. routinely called "Dr." on TV. Not true--there's Dr. Ruth and Dr.
Joyce Brothers, too! But it is interesting that newspaper style guides
normally forbid the use of the term "Dr." for any non-medico.

The medical ego DEMANDS doctoring, usually. I've found that in hospitals, even
first year med students often introduce themselves as "Dr." As in "Hello,
Johnny, I'm Dr. Jones" --from a twerpy guy 30+ years younger than I was to
whom I responded, "Hi, Bobby." (His name tag read Robert Jones) A nurse later
thanked me--sai THEY called him "ratface" or "rf."......